Club unites young bird-watchers on quest to tally species, explore parks

Monday

Apr 30, 2012 at 12:01 AMApr 30, 2012 at 9:23 AM

With an excited shout, 13-year-old Trevor Zook pointed out the window of the nature center at Blendon Woods Metro Park. "A field sparrow!" said Zook, of Mansfield, Ohio, referring to his sighting of a small, brown bird visiting a feeder at the Northeast Side park. "That's a life-list bird for me!"

Ken Gordon, The Columbus Dispatch

With an excited shout, 13-year-old Trevor Zook pointed out the window of the nature center at Blendon Woods Metro Park.

“A field sparrow!” said Zook, of Mansfield, Ohio, referring to his sighting of a small, brown bird visiting a feeder at the Northeast Side park. “That’s a life-list bird for me!”

A life list is the tally of different species that birdwatchers have spotted in a lifetime. Adding a species (he now has 217) explained Zook’s enthusiasm

“Awesome, congratulations,” said Nathan Martineau, 15.

Zook and Martineau were among 10 children, ages 12 to 17, who earlier this month participated in Spring Fling, an all-day outing of the fledgling Central Ohio Young Birders Club.

Gerry Brevoort, 55, has been a birder for about 15 years. She helped start the club in 2010 after working on a bird-related science project with a group of middle-school students from Immaculate Conception School in the Clintonville neighborhood.

She was touched by their enthusiasm for the five-month project, which involved competitions in which the kids had to identify bird species from their photos or calls. At about the same time, Brevoort learned of the Ohio Young Birders Club, founded in 2006 at the Black Swamp Observatory in Oak Harbor, about 30 miles east of Toledo.

Like the founders of that statewide club, Brevoort saw a need for a nature-oriented group for youths 12 to 18.

“There is so much emphasis nowadays on getting kids up and moving outside,” Brevoort said. “ And in the (nature) education community, and the parks, there are so many different activities for families or toddlers or elementary-school kids, but there isn’t that much for teenagers.

“So we’re focusing on that age group.”

She now is one of four advisers for the local club, which has about 15 members. The others are Darlene Sillick and Susan Setterlin (who, like Brevoort, are on the Columbus Audobon board of trustees) and Tim Daniels of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

Ken Keffer, education director at the Black Swamp Observatory, estimates there are about 150 teens involved in the statewide club, and said about a dozen states now have clubs for teens.

Getting teens interested in nature might seem like an uphill battle.

According to a September 2011 study by the Nature Conservancy, 88 percent of America’s youth spend time online every day, 69 percent said they play video games or watch TV everyday, while just 11 percent reported regularly spending time outside.

In other words, kids seem more likely to play “Angry Birds” than search for real birds.

Those who run state and local birding groups say that teens needn’t be fanatic birders to enjoy joining the clubs. It’s more about providing a quality outdoor experience with peers.

“Some students are hard-core bird-listers,” Keffer said. “They want to go out and chase rare birds and keep meticulous field notes.

“But some kids just want to be outside. They may like birds, but they’d rather flip over a rock. They’re in it for the nature and the social aspect.”

Clare Jusdanis, 13, of Columbus fits the latter mold. A club member for more than a year, “I like being outside in nature,” she said. “I live next to a ravine that leads into the Olentangy River, and I always liked going down there with my brothers.”

By contrast, Martineau, of Lansing, Mich., became interested in birds when he attended a summer nature camp four years ago. Now, he’s an avid birder who said his “life list” numbers 308 species.

“They (birds) intrigue me,” he said. “There are a lot of them, and they aren’t very shy. I like how you can put a feeder out and they come right up to you. They’re just so easy to watch.”

Brevoort said she tries to provide a variety of outings, about 10 a year, including birding trips done while bicycling or kayaking as well as service projects such as building nest boxes.

In February, the club gathered to hear world-renowned birder and author Richard Crossley, who was in Columbus to speak at the Audubon Center near Downtown. Crossley made a point of wanting to speak to the Young Birders Club during his visit.

“Kids are the future of birding, pure and simple,” he said. “These kids could grow up to become conservationists and game-changers. So I think it’s really paramount that we try and get as many of those kids into it very young.”

At the recent Blendon Woods event, the students braved a chilly, rainy day. They hiked through woods to an observation shelter house overlooking a pond. From their perch, they spotted chickadees, towhees, bluebirds, red-bellied woodpeckers, green herons and wood ducks, among many other species.

Nathan Martineau’s mother, Cindi Martineau, said she awoke at 3 a.m. to make the 4½ -hour drive down for the outing.

Unable to find a youth-oriented birding club in their home state, the Martineaus began taking Nathan and two of her other children, May, 12, and Elijah, 11, to Ohio last summer. (She and her husband also have two children who are too young to participate).

“One of our goals now is to get out into nature every Sunday,” Cindi Martineau said. “We all get out and spend a whole day doing something outside, and I think we have all these stories now, ‘ Remember when we saw the. . . .’

“He (Nathan) totally changed the whole dynamic of our family.”

kgordon@dispatch.com

@kgdispatch

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